Rotary steam-engine



(No'Model.)

, i J. HILL.

ROTARY STEAM ENGINE. N0. 507,128. Patented Oct, 24, y1893.

M may Mw UNrTED STATES PATENT Garros.

JOSEPH HILL, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROTARY STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,128, dated October24, 1893.

Application filed May 11, 1893. Serial No. 473,753. (No model.) I

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH HILL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Williamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRotary Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enableothers skilled` in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to various new and useful improvements in rotarysteam engines, either single, compound, or triple expansion.

The objects of the invention are to provide a rotary steam engine whichwill possess a high efficiency and which will have but few wearingparts, both as to the piston or wings and as to the valves. Y

In order that my improvement may be understood, attention is directed tothe accompanying drawings,r forming a part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure l is a cross sectional View of the engine; Fig. 2 a crosssectional view on the line X-X of Fig. l, showing acompound rotary steamengine built on my improved principles, and Fig. 3, a detached sectionalview of one of the gate valves for the low pressure cylinder, incompound engines.

A, represents the bed plate of the engine made of cast metal in anysuitable way.

B, B, are the cylinder heads of the engine. These cylinder heads aresecured to the cylinder (J, by means of bolts a, as shown in Fig. 2.Each cylinder head is provided with a circumferential ring b, thereon,each being of the same diameter, but the ring b, for the low pressurecylinder is considerably wider than the corresponding ring for the highpressure cylinder. Each cylinder head B, is also provided With anintegral bearing for the shaft D of the engine which bearing may,however, be a separate element. The shaft D carries a disk E thereon,and this disk its within the cylinder C and bears against the edges ofthe rings b. The rings b, arepacked at d, to prevent leakage at the diskE.

From the construction just described, it will be understood thatI haveobtained steam spaces on each side of the disk E, between the cylinder()and the rings b, the space being greater in a low pressure cylinder thanin the high pressure cylinder. When the parts arev thus assembled, thetwo rings b, bearing against the disk E constitute a center core for themachine, which expression will be used hereinafter to designate thosetwo rings. The shaft D is packed at the ends F, in the usual Way.

G, is awing or partition which is carried by the disk E, at one point ofits periphery, as shown in Fig. 2. This wing G, bears against thecylinder C, the center core l) and one of the cylinder heads B, and isto be packed at those points, in any way, to prevent leakage of steam.

H, is another wing which is secured to the disk E, and which works inthe low pressure space in the same way, being packed to prevent leakage,like the wing G. For convenience I shall describe these two wings G, andH, as being secured to the disk E at parallel points, but it will beunderstood that these wings may be secured to the disk E, at otherpoints, which may be necessary to prevent the formation of a dead centerin the engine.

I, I, are the valve chests, which are secured at opposite points to thecylinders C, and which offer convenient supports for the engine withinthe bed plate A.

J, J, are gate valves arranged at diametrical points, which work in thevalve chambers I, and which are adapted, at certain points in therotation of the engine, to be forced in through the steam spaces of boththe high and low pressure cylinders of the engine to form stops for thesteam to work against. It will be observed from an inspection of Fig. lthat these gate valves work in a slide in the cylinder heads B, and whenforced for the full distance into the steam spaces, engage Vwith asmallrecess e, formed in the center J,

core. The gate valves J are suitably packed where they touch the disk E,to prevent leakage at that point. In order that the wings G and H, whichare secured tothe disk E, may be suitably strengthened, I brace the sameby means of a bracket or supporting arm f, bolted to the disk E and tosaid wings G, and H, as shown in Fig. l. The gate valves J, are eachprovided with a stem g, passing through a packing box 72 in the end ofthe valve chests.

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K, K, are cam levers, which are pivoted within the bed plate, in linewith the gate valves J, J. The construction of these cam levers K, K,will be understood by reference to Fig. 1. Each cam lever K, is,theoretically, composed of two parts, the lower part, extending from 1to 2, being formed in the arc of a circle, and the upper part, from 2 to3 being practically straight or of less curve than the part from l to 2.

L, Lare rocker shafts which are mounted in the bed plate A, on each sideof the engine.

M, M, are rocker arms which are secured to the rocker shafts, and eachrocker arm M, is provided with rollers t', j, thereon, engaging the camlevers K.

It will be understood, that, instead of making use of one rocker arm M,carrying the rollers i, andj, two rocker arms may be used, mounted sideby side, and carrying rollers between them. One of these rollers, (theroller fi, being designated in Fig. 1) is movably mounted with respecttothe rocker arm M, and is adapted to be moved toward or away from thecam lever K, by means of a set yscrew 1c, so that any wear may be takenup thereon.

Upon one side of the engine is placed an eccentric N, having aneccentric strap O thereon, in the usual way.

P. is an eccentric rod, which extends from one side of the eccentricstrap O, to the rocker lever Q, secured to the rocker shaft L. R, isanother eccentric rod on the other side of the eccentric strap O, andwhich extends `from the eccentric strap 0 to a rocker arm S, secured tothe other rocker shaft L, at the left handside of the engine. Theeccentric arm P, is .secured to the eccentric strap O, by a rigidconnection, such as by a sleeve, as shown, so as to hold the eccentricstrap `O in its proper position, and theeccentric rod R, at the otherside, is secured to the eccentric strap O, byra knuckle joint, as shown,to allow for the proper movement of the engine.

Z, Zare exhaust valves mounted within the valve chests I, and adapted toopen and close the exhaust ports m, m, formed within the cylinder C, asshown in Fig. 1.-

,'lhe exhaust valves l, are illustrated in Fig.

` l as being ordinary rotary valves, but slide gat-e valve, and theexhaust port fm, at the valvesor other varieties of valves may be used.One of the exhaust ports m, opens into the steam space at one side,beneath one of the gate valves J, and the other oit the exhaust portsfm, opens into the steam space above the other gate valve J. In Fig. l,I have shown the exhaust port m, at the right of the engine, as openinginto the steam space below the left, as opening into the steam spaceabove thegate valve J, on that side.

The exhaust valves Zare provided with rocker arms n, placed outside ofthe valve chest, with the stem of the valve passing through an ordinarystalling box. The connecting rods o, o, connect the ends of the rockerarms n, with the rocker arms Q, and S. The valve chests I, are alsoprovided with live steam valves p, controlling live steam, ports, whichenter the steam space above the gate valves J, at one side, and belowthe gate Valve J, at the other side, as shown in Fig. 1. I haveillustrated these live steam valves p, as being ordinary rotary steamvalves, but it is evident that any other kind of a valve may besubstituted, without departing from the spirit of this invention. Theselive steam valves p, may be controlled by the movements of the rockerarms Q and S, but it is desirable that they should be controlled by themovements of another eccentric, placed at the other side of the engine,and regulated by any desirable and convenientformof governor and bymeans of which the amount of steam introduced into the engine will beregulated according to the speed thereof, so that the speed ofthe enginewill be governed.

These parts of the engine that have been described rare all that isnecessary for a single engine, the operation ot' which will be readilyunderstood As shown in Fig. 1, the engine is practically on a deadcenter and will not start, since both live steam valves p, are closed.For convenience, let it be supposed that the engine is started in thedirection of the arrow by hand, so that the wing G, will move to theleft. This will cause the eccentric N, to be moved to the left, so as tocarry the eccentric strap O, in the same direction. The connecting rodR, will move the rocker .arm S, away from the engine, moving theconnecting rod atthe left of the engine accordingly. This will move theexhaust valves l, at. that side,so as to cover the exhaust port at theleft of the engine. This movement will also partially rotate therockershaft L, at the left,

v so as .to elevate the rocker arm M, at that side,

.carrying up the rollers t', and j, against the straight portion of thecam lever'K, at that side and thus opening the gate valve J, .at theleft of the engine, so as to allow the wing G, to pass the same. Thesemovements of the parts at the lett of the machine will also tend to keepthe live steam valve 19, at that side, over its port, covering the same.Referring to the right hand side of the engine, it will be observed thatthe gate valve J, at that side is closed and is resting in the recess e,in the center core. The movement of the eccentric strap toward the left,will move the connectingrod P, accordingly, also moving the rocker armQ. This rocker arm Q, will actuate the connecting rod o,which willopenthe exhaust valve Z, at the righ-t hand side of IOC xIg

the engine, which will carry the rocker arm tion is equal to the path ofmovement of these rollers, the cam lever K, at that side will not bemoved, and the gate valve J, at that side will remain closed, and inengagement with the center core. The movements of the parts of theengine will also open the live steam valve 1o, at the right hand side,which will admit live steam in the space formed above the gate valve J,and behind the wing G. The live steam entering this space will force thewing G, around through the steam space, carrying, of course, the disk E,with it, until the Wing has reached the extreme left hand position ofits path of movement. At' this point the parts are placed in theposition just described, that is to say, upon the left hand side of theengine the gate valve J, will be opened, and the exhaust and live steamvalves will be closed, and on the right hand side` of the engine, thegate valve J, will be closed, and both the live and exhaust steam valveswill be opened. When the wing Greaches a position diametrically oppositeto that shown in Fig. l, and as the said wing G, continues to approachthe right hand side of the engine, the gate valve at that side will begradually opened, inexactly the same manner as the gate valve J, at theleftside of the engine was opened, and the live and exhaust steam valveswill beV closed. At the same time, the gate valve J, at the left of theengine, will be unaiected since therollers t', and j, at that side, willwork on the curved portion of the cam lever K, at that side, and theexhaust and live steam valves will be opened at that side, so that livesteam will be admitted behind the wing G, into the space formed behindthe wing G, and the gate valves at the left of the engine. It willrbeobserved that as the gate valves J are moved back and forth, there-Willbe equal pressure on each side thereof, so that the said gate valveswill be balanced and there will be no Wear thereon.` At the moment thelgate valves enter either of the recesses e, of the inner core, therewill be a greater pressure on the side thereof on which the exhauststeam bears, but this pressure, it will be observed, will only be the'difference in pressure between the live steam and the exhaust steam.l

An obvious advantage of this engine for the economy of steam is this: Itwill be observed from Fig. l, that the wing G, occupies a positionone-fourth of a revolution from the gate valve J, at the right of theengine and that the live steam port at this side is closed. As the wingG, moves around a short distance, which We will assume is one-third of arevolution from the gate valve J at the right of the engine, the livesteam valve atthat side opens and allows live steam to enter the steamspace behind the` Wing G. It is obvious that this space will be occupiedby steam that has been introduced behind the wing, which is exhauststeam, so that this steam will tend to act expansively to force the wingG, in its path of movement. Therefore in this engine, it will be seen,thatI use, approximately, one-third of the exhaust steam,

which in other engines is allowed to escape without being converted intouseful energy.

I have mentioned before that this engine is especially adapted for useas a compound or triple expansion engine, and in Fig. 2, I haveillustrated, in section, a compound engine working uponvthe generalprinciples of my invention just described. It will be observed from Fig.2 that the steam space at the right .of the machine in which the wing G,works is much smaller in capacity than thesteam yspace at the left ofthe machine in which the wing H, Works. It is obvious that the smallerspace is for the high pressure steam, and the larger space is for thelow pressure steam. It is also obvious that this engine is to work, likeall compound engines, by utilizing the exhaust steam from the highpressure cylinder in the low pressure cylinder.

In Fig. 3, I have shown in section, a form of slide valve Which is to beused for introducing the steam into the low pressure steam space. q,represents a valve chest in section; r, the gate valve working therein,and s, the connecting rod for this gate valve by which it is operated,either from the cam lever K, or a similar cam lever actuated from thecrank shaft L. The steam inlet port t, communicates with the exhaust Z,of the high pressure cylinder. The gate valve r, is provided With asteam port u, therein, substantially of the form shown, so that when thegate val-ve r, is moved ont in the lower pressure steam space, and itengages with the recess e, in the center core, the steam port u, thereinwill be coincident with the Vsteam port t, from the exhaust of the highpressure cylinder, and that exhaust will be admitted into the lowpressure cylinder behind the wing H, and will actuate thersame preciselyin the same way that the wing G, is actuated by the live steam. Theexhaust steam isv to be taken out from the low pressure' cylinder by anyconvenient arrangement of exhaust ports operated by the same exhaustvalves already described.

It is obvious that the exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder tothe low pressure cylinder may be controlled by other arrangements ofvalves, from that shown. Such a change however, is a matter for theskillof a mechanic and not for the ingenuity of the inventor, and would notaffect in any way the scope of this invention. It is also obvious thatby placing the wing H, at apoint, say, one fourth of a revolution aheadof or behind the wing G, that the engine would operate with equalfacility and without the danger of dead centers.

l. In a rotary steam engine, the combination of an outer cylinder orcasing; a center core; a disk mounted within said cylinders or casing; awing carried by said disk and rotating within the space between saidcylinder or casing and said center core; gate valves J, J,

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arranged diametrically within said cylinder or casing, and adapted to bemoved into and out of engagement with said center core; a cam lever K,mounted adjacent to each gate valve and connected therewith; and aneccentric on the main shaft for actuating said cam levers, substantiallyas set forth.

2. In a rotary steam engine, the combination of an outer cylinder orcasing; a center core; a disk mounted within said cylinder or casing; awing carried by said disk and rotating within the space between saidcylinder or casing and said center core, gate valves J, J, arrangeddiametrically Within said cylinder or casing and adapted to be movedinto and out of engagement with said center core; a cam lever K, mountedadjacent to each gate valve and connected therewith; the rocker shaft Lmounted in the base of the engine adjacent to each cam lever K; a rockerarm M, on each rocker shaft L, and carrying rollers c', and j, engagingeach cam lever K; a rocker arm, S, Q, on each of the rocker shafts L; aneccentric N, on the engine shaft; and connections from the eccentric N,to the rocker arms S, and Q, substantially as described.

3. In a vrotary steam engine, the combination of an outer cylinder orcasing; a center core; a disk mounted within said cylinder or casing; awing carried by said disk and rotating within the'space between saidcylinder or casing and said center core; gate valves J, J, arrangeddiametrically within said cylinder or casing and adapted to be movedinto and outl of engagement with said center core; a cam lever K,mounted adjacent to each gate valve and connected therewith; the rockershaft L, lmounted in the base of the engine, adjacent to each cam leverK; a rocker arm M, on each rocker shaft L, and carrying rollers 7l, andj, engaging each cam `lever K; a rocker arm S, Q, on each of the rockershafts, L; an eccentric N, on the engine shaft; an exhaust valve Zoneachside of the engine; connecting rods o, from said exhaust valves to saidrocker arms S, Q, and connecting rods P. R. from said eccentric to saidrockerarms S. Q. substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH HILL. Witnesses:

HUGH GILMORE, JOHN O. KARICHER.

